Category Archives: Healthy Life

Atkins Diet Tips, Healthy Life

Induction Diet – Day 3

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Continuing on my journey, I’m up to day 3 of my induction run. I’m still doing fine and getting plenty of food. So yesterday, June 8, 2016, this is my menu for the day:

Breakfast:

Food NC
Baked ham & eggs 1.6
Tea 0
Vitamin B12 Gummy 1

Baked Ham and Eggs

1 slice Ham
2 Eggs
4 leaves Baby Spinach, torn
2 tablespoons shredded Cheddar Cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).

Spray a 1 cup ramekin (small casserole dish) with baking spray and rub with butter. Add the ham and spinach to the dish. In a small bowl, beat the eggs with a teaspoon of water, then add seasoning and shredded cheese and stir them in. Pour over the ham and spinach.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the eggs are completely set. If you pull them out too soon and they are runny, return them to the hot oven to cook another 5 minutes.

Makes 1 serving.

Nutrition Information:
Calories: 276 Fat: 195 g Net Carbs: 1.6 g Protein:22.3 g

Lunch:

Food NC
Mozzarella Cheese 2
Sugar-free pickles 1
mayonnaise 0
MIM 0.6

 

Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Pickles

I was so eager to eat this that I forgot to take a photo until halfway through it.

Yep, I made a grilled cheese sandwich with mozzarella cheese, which is absolutely delicious. This was very satisfying. I made a flax meal Muffin in a Minute for my bread. This is the basic Atkins recipe, but I do a couple of things differently. While you usually don’t eat bread during induction, the flax meal version is okay for it.

For the MIM

1 Egg
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
2 tablespoon Golden Flax Meal
Pinch Salt and Pepper
1 tablespoon Grated Parmesan Cheese

In a 3 to 3 1/2 inch round bowl, add the egg and olive oil and mix together with a whisk or rubber spatula. Add the flax meal, seasonings and Parmesan cheese. Mix well. Tap the bowl a few times to eliminate air bubbles.

Microwave for one minute. Let rest and cool for a few minutes so it is easier to cut. Use a serrated knife to cut the muffin horizontally across the middle.

To make the Grilled Cheese

1/3 to 1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella Cheese or 2 slices of it.
1 tablespoon Butter

Spread butter on the top of the muffin and set aside for the moment. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Then put about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese on top (or you can use two slices). Put the top over the cheese, buttered side up, then flip the sandwich and place it into the skillet. Let cook for about 5 minutes or until the cheese begins to melt. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to press down on the sandwich. Butter the exposed side of the muffin, then turn the muffin over. You may have to hold it down with your fingers to keep the pieces together. Cook the bottom for another 5 minutes until it is a golden brown.

Remove from the skillet to a serving plate. Add a tablespoon of mayonnaise and a pair of sugar-free sweet pickles or whichever pickle you prefer.

Makes one serving.

Nutrition Information:
Calories:626 Fat: 55.8 g Net Carbs: 2.6 g Protein: 27.5 g

For Dinner:

Food NC
Italian-style Meatloaf 3.8
Turnip Home Fries 3
Green Salad 2

 

When I originally made the meatloaf, I served it with Brussels Sprouts and Green Giant Cauli-rice with Sweet Potatoes.

The Italian Style Meatloaf is one that I made a week or so ago and had in the freezer. You can find the recipe here.

To make the turnips, cut into cubes and cook in hot water until they are fork tender. Drain and dry off. Put a tablespoon of butter into a skillet to melt, then add the turnips and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until they turn a light brown.

I confess, I am getting a little tired of the green salad. Will be looking for different salad ingredients on Saturday.

That sums up the day. To top it off, I had one of the new Atkins Lemon Bars for dessert and that was 3 more net carbs.  Total for the day was 18 g.

 

 

Atkins Diet Tips, Breakfast & Brunch, Healthy Life, Main Dish, Mexican/Spanish Recipes, Pork, Recipes

Induction Eating Plan – Day 2

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Today is the second day of the 20 net carbs or less diet plan. It’s not bad, really, but then I’ve done it before and my usual intake is about 23 net carbs. I’ve been exceeding them a little, which is why I’ve gained weight.  Boy, I have a slooooow metabolism.  Anyway, I’m on day 2 and here’s the menu for June 7, 2017. (I’m one day behind on reporting if you recall.)

If you’re doing this, remember to get enough salt, drink a cup of bullion to help with that, and drink lots of water. Your body goes into withdrawal a bit and you can feel lightheaded and sluggish while you’re adapting to the change in your diet.

Food NC
chorizo scramble 2
Coffee with creamer 1
1/2 tortilla 1.5
Vitamin B12 Gummie 1


Chorizo and Eggs Scrambled

These are super-easy to make and you can use either Mexican-style or Basque-style chorizo. The former has a more liquid chile and melts more than the Basque type. But both work very well. I have a recipe on the site already for this, but the super low version I made follows:

4 oz. Chorizo, Mexican or Basque style
2-3 large Eggs
1 teaspoon dehydrated Minced Onions
2 tablespoons Cheddar Cheese, shredded
6 leaves Baby Spinach, torn into pieces

Break the eggs into a bowl and whisk until mixed, add a little water and the dehydrated onions. Stir, then set aside.

In a skillet, cook the chorizo over medium high heat. Use a spatula to cut and separate the meat until it looks like ground beef. Cook until lightly browned. Stir the egg mixture again, then pour into the skillet, reducing the heat a little so the eggs don’t cook too quickly. Stir the eggs and chorizo together and cook until they begin to firm up. Sprinkle the cheese and the spinach over the top, then stir into the mixture. When the eggs are done to your liking, remove from the heat and serve.

Makes 2 servings

Nutrition information per serving (with 2 eggs):
Calories: 351.4 Fat: 28.2 g Net Carbs: 2.0 g Protein: 21.4 g

The third egg adds about 30 calories and 0.2 net carbs

Lunch:

Food NC
Tuna Salad 2.3
Green Salad 1.6

 

Simple Tuna & Egg Salad

I like my tuna salad with a little bit of sweet, which I get from adding sweet pickles. There are several brands of sugar-free sweet pickles at the markets. I use Del Monte’s. I had left over salad from the first day, so that was the nest for the tuna salad.

5 oz. Tuna, canned or in packet
1 hard boiled egg
2 tablespoons Sugar-free Pickle Relish or chopped Sugar-free pickles
1/4 cup Mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Sugar-free Pickle juice
Pepper to taste
Salt to taste

Put the tuna into a bowl and break it up with a fork or a spatula. Cut the peeled hard-boiled egg into sections and chop it up with the fork, then add to the tuna. Add mayonnaise and mix into the tuna and egg, then add the chopped pickles or relish and the juice. Mix well.

Makes two servings. Great served over a green salad.

Nutrition Information per serving:
Calories: 283 Fat: 23.4 g Net Carbs: 2.3 g Protein: 17.1 g

Dinner and Dessert:

Food NC
Chile Verde with 3.5
1/2 cup Riced Cauliflower
1/4 avocado sliced 0.8
1 T Avocado Salsa 1
1 T Cheddar Cheese 0
Microwave Cheesecake 1.25
1 tsp Raspberry Sauce 0.25


Chile Verde Casserole

Really easy to make . I use Herdez Green Chile Salsa, which comes out to 8 net carbs per 1/2 cup. I find per-made PIco de Gallo at my grocery store. If you can’t find it, then it is chopped tomatoes, onions, garlic, peppers, and cilantro. Find a recipe here at All Recipes.

1 lb Pork Loin or Pork Chop, cubed
1/2 cup Green Chile Salsa
1/2 cup pre-made Pico de Gallo
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
2 cups riced Cauliflower

Pre-cook the riced cauliflower in a pan or the microwave for about 6 minutes to soften.

In a hot skillet, add the olive oil then add the pork and cook until browned. Stir in the green chile salsa and 1/4 cup water, then turn the heat to a high simmer. Let cook about 10 minutes until the pork is tender. Add the Pico de Gallo and seasonings. Let cook another 10 minutes, then stir in the riced cauliflower. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 more minutes until the dish is thickened and the cauli-rice is hot. Serve.

Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition information per serving:
Calories: 295 Fat: 15.5 g Net Carbs: 3.5 g Protein: 33.1 g

For the Microwave Cheesecake, please visit this great website where I found it a few years ago.  Total carbs for the day is 16.5 g.

That’s it for this day. Be back tomorrow with more.

Atkins Diet Tips, Healthy Life

Atkins Induction Eating Plan – Day 1

One of the questions that’s often come up on the Atkins support list on Facebook is what can I eat while I’m on Induction? People want menu ideas and recipes. Believe it or not, many delicious and satisfying meals come in at under 5 to 8 net carbs.

Recently, I decided to go back to Induction to try to get the weight loss kick started after gaining back about 25 lbs of my loss. Many factors contributed to this over the past year, such as eating out frequently, experimenting with new recipes, and some stress eating in the OMG, I have to try that! category. Now I have about 20 lbs more than I want on my body. So I’m going back to phase 1 to get back on track and I decided to document everything I eat for the next two weeks.

Even better, I am going to post my meals each day and give your the recipes or links to the recipes. I’ll even tell you which brands I use on some low carb items.

Day 1

To start this off, yesterday, June 6, 2017, this is what I had for each meal.

Breakfast:
Cream cheese pancakes, with butter and zero carb maple syrup (Mrs. Butterworth’s) and 2 strips of bacon. I also had a cup of coffee with 1 teaspoon creamer and liquid sweetener.
Total net carbs: 4

You can find the Cream Cheese Pancakes recipe here. I did make an adjustment or two to it, but I’ll post those changes in a couple of days when I make them again.

Lunch:

I had a quesadilla made with 1 slice of 1/4″ thick ham, 1 slice Swiss cheese, and a low carb whole wheat tortilla cooked in 1 tablespoon butter.
Total net carbs: 4 g

Super simple recipe and here’s how you do it. Sorry, I didn’t take a photo so next time, I’ll do that and post it here.

Ham and Cheese Quesadilla

1/2 slice 1/4″ thick Ham (5″ diameter slice)
1 slice Swiss Cheese
1 Low Carb Whole Wheat Tortilla (3 nc)
1 tablespoon Butter

In a heavy skillet, warm the tortilla so it is pliable, then remove and melt the 1/2 of the butter. Put the ham and cheese slice alongside the middle of the tortilla and fold it over to form a pocket, like a turnover. Cook in the butter for about three to four minutes until the cheese begins to melt and the tortilla is lightly browned. Turn the pocket over and add the rest of the butter, sliding the tortilla around in the skillet to get the butter on it. (Alternately, you can butter the tortilla top while it is cooking, then just flip it over.)

Cook another three to four minutes until the bottom side is browned. Remove to a serving plate.

Makes 1 serving

Nutrition Information:
Calories: 150 Fat: 9.0 g Net Carbs: 3.0 g Protein: 15 g

Dinner:

I had Roasted Chicken Thigh with Spicy Seasoning, 1/2 cup Broccoli spears with butter, and 1 cup Green Salad with Romaine lettuce, spinach, chopped zucchini, chopped cucumber, and 1/4 of an avocado chopped and 2 tablespoons Walden Farms Chipotle Ranch Dressing (0 carbs). Total net carbs: 6.1 g

For a night time sweet, I had two pieces of Russell Stovers Miniatures Chocolate Candy – 0 net carbs.
Total for the day: 17.1 net carbs

That included the 1 nc for my chewable Vitamin B12. Must look for sugar free next time I buy.

Simple Roast Chicken

(Pictured at the top of the page)

2 large Chicken Thighs or Breasts, skin on
1/2 tablespoon Spicy Rub (0 net carbs) *
Butter-flavored Cooking Spray or 1 tablespoon Melted Butter

Preheat oven to 385 degrees (F.) Put a sheet of aluminum foil over a deep-sided pan, such as a jelly roll pan or a pie dish.

Wash the chicken pieces and dry with a paper towel. Place on the aluminum foil and spray the pieces on top or brush melted butter over them. If any of the skin is tucked under the chicken piece, pull it out and spread it on the sheet so that it will crisp. Pat the seasoning into each piece of chicken.

Put in oven and cook for 50 minutes. Check that the chicken is done and the skin is crisp. Remove from the oven and let sit about 5 minutes before serving.

Makes 2 servings.

Nutrition information per serving (thigh):
Calories: 92.1 Fat: 7.1 g Net Carbs: 0.0 Protein: 6.8 g

Nutrition information per serving (breast):
Calories: 300.4 Fat: 19.2 g Net Carbs: 0.0 g Protein: 30.3 g

The chicken breast is actually 2 half breasts, which is how they are usually sold. If you find small chicken thighs rather than the bigger, plump ones, then count two thighs as one serving.

* I use Blazin’ Blends Zesty Seasoned Salt, 0 calories and 0 carbohydrates

Close up of the green salad.

Green Salad with Zucchini & Avocado

1 1/2 cups shredded Romaine lettuce
1/2 cup chopped Spinach leaves
1/4 cup Zucchini, chopped
1/2 medium-sized Cucumber, peeled and chopped
1/4 Haas Avocado, peeled
1/2 teaspoon Lemon Juice
2 to 4 tablespoons Walden Farms Chipotle Ranch Dressing

In a large bowl, preferably with a lid, combine the lettuce, spinach, cucumber, and zucchini. Cut the avocado into small pieces and place in a small bowl, then add the lemon juice. This will help to prevent it from going brown. Put the rest of the avocado in a plastic baggie with a little lemon juice.

Put the lid on the bowl and toss the salad to mix the vegetables in. Serve on the plate or in a salad bowl, then top with the avocado. Pour chipotle ranch dressing over the top.

Makes two 1 servings.

Nutrition Information:
Calories: 53.9 g Fat: 3.4 g Net Carbs: 1.6 g Protein: 1.5 g

Come back tomorrow for Day 2 on Induction.

Healthy Life, Tips

What is that …?

…and what do you do with it?

That’s a question I’ve been asked many times at the grocery store check out stand from either customers or the clerk when I’ve bought a couple of unusual vegetables. While not uncommon or even unknown in the United States, they are odd-looking and often overlooked by shoppers. I am speaking of kohlrabi and celery root, two very delicious vegetables that can add a different flair to your dinner while coming in at a lower calorie and carbohydrate count than a potato, pasta, or rice.

So, I’m on a mission to introduce more people to these tasty but lesser known edibles.

To be honest, I didn’t discover them until the past few years when I started changing over to a low carb lifestyle to manage my weight. A friend in Europe told me about kohlrabi and while picking one up at the store, I was curious about celery root. Both vegetables are peculiar-looking, but the flavor they hide is wonderful.

kohlrabi2
Both the leaves and the vegetable on a kohlrabi plant are edible. These are a winter crop and can be found in the markets around February until the middle of summer, depending on where you are.

Kohlrabi is a cousin of broccoli and if you like the taste of that vegetable’s stem, then imagine it in a milder version and you have the taste of kohlrabi. It looks like an alien plant when you see it with the leaves attached as the stems come out from all over the round vegetable. The leaves are also good to cook and eat along with other greens.

Most often, it seems people who use kohlrabi grate or chop it to add to salads. However, it is wonderful when cooked. I make kohlrabi fries just as I would potato ones. You can also boil it into a mash with other vegetables, steam it, roast it, or turn it into a scalloped dish. It works best for these dishes when precooked a little to speed up the cooking time. You can also par-boil and freeze it.

celery-root
Celery root is usually sold by the root. Look for the larger ones to get more value.

Now, celery root looks like a big, ugly lump when you see it in the store. It’s a gnarly-looking root. This is not your usual garden celery, but the celeriac root. The taste of it has a hint of celery, but it isn’t very strong. Once you peel off the exterior and clean it up, the meat is versatile. You can use it almost any way you use a potato. In fact, if you wash it up well, cut it in half and bake it, it makes a great substitute for a baked potato. Just don’t eat the skin.Texture-wise, it’s the only substitute vegetable I’ve found, apart from other potato family ones, that is like a potato when baked. It makes fabulous plank fries and goes well in soups.

I’ve also added turnips to my meal plans, finding that turnips and cauliflower mashed together with butter and cream made a great-tasting substitute for mashed potatoes. Cauliflower flowerets along with diced turnips, kohlrabi, or celery root can make a great-tasting macaroni-free cheese dish.

Apart from changing up the usual starches at dinner, these options are also lower in calories and carbs. If you’re wanting to cut back a little, try one of these vegetables for a change.

Take a look at the differences in nutrition:

Kohlrabi – per 1/2 cup:
18 calories 4.2 grams carbohydrates 2.5 g fiber 1.2 g protein

Celery root – per 1/2 cup
33 calories 7.2 g carbohydrates 1.3 fiber 1.2 protein

Turnips – per 1/2 cup
18.2 calories 4.2 g carbohydrates 1.2 g fiber 0.6 gr protein

Potatoes – per 1/2 cup:
51.8 calories, 11.8 g carbohydrates 1.8 g fiber 1.3 g protein

Have you tried kohlrabi or celery root?  If so, how did you use them and what did you think?

Pictured at the top is a Broccoli, kohlrabi and ham bake.  All photos are copyright by the author.

Book News

Happy Thanksgiving and a Sale

lgw_thanks1

As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving in the USA, I want to send my best wishes to everyone around the world for a wonderful start to the winter holiday season. It’s a time to be thankful for what we have, to be generous and considerate to others, and wouldn’t it be wonderful if that extended all year?

Maybe we need more good food in our lives to spread the cheer and that’s why my cookbooks are going on sale from now until December 31, 2016. During this time, you can purchase the e-book versions from Smashwords using the following coupons:

Sweets by the Season

Delicious holiday dessert recipes for any occasion and all low carb. Satisfy you sweet tooth without popping the snaps on your jeans.  Use coupon: WS39J to get it for just 99 cents.

 

Meal4Two Cookbook2-Magic-final

Meals for Two

A collection of low carb recipes that you can prepare in two person batches so you’re not struck with leftovers for days.  I’ve had a lot of practice with these delicious recipes that cover the day from breakfast through dinner.  Use coupon KC73L to get it for just $1.29.

May there be happiness in your home and in your heart and may there always be good food on your table.  Happy Thanksgiving!